


Parasomnia

by myotishia



Series: Psyonic [7]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26129818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotishia/pseuds/myotishia
Summary: Could an old sketchbook be the key to saving the team from a horrible fate?
Relationships: Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Owen Harper/Toshiko Sato
Series: Psyonic [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766956
Comments: 20
Kudos: 24





	1. Nightmares

Three twenty two on a warm Cardiff night was not when anyone wanted to be awake, least of all Owen Harper. He could sleep anywhere but not well, especially when it was too warm. He rolled over and heard Tosh mumble something.

“Can’t you sleep either?” He asked softly. She didn’t react so he assumed he was hearing things in his sleep deprived state. He closed his eyes and willed himself to just go back to sleep, ignoring the quiet hum of the fan in the corner of the room. After a minute he heard it. 

Toshiko really was talking. “Bright.” She mumbled. She’d never spoken in her sleep before, at least as far as Owen knew.

“What’s bright sweetheart?” 

“So bright… Burning… Help.”

He softly caressed her arm, trying to wake her. “Tosh? Tosh, wake up darling.” 

“Stop… please.” She whimpered and twitched, in the grip of some kind of nightmare. 

He sat up and spoke at a normal volume, giving up on whispering. “Tosh.”

She gasped, her eyes wide, very much awake. 

“Woah, take it easy. You were having a bad dream.” 

It took a moment for her to even realise where she was, shaking slightly as she calmed from her sudden awakening. “Wha-what time is it?” 

“Three thirty. You alright? You were talking in your sleep.”

“I was?” She sat up and brushed her hair away from her face. “I just remember standing in this huge room filled with cogs. They were moving and something in the middle of the room, a box I think, suddenly lit up. Everything was so bright. It was like fire.”

“You’re probably just overheated.” He stood from the bed and walked out to get her a cold glass of water. 

She took it with shaking hands. “Thanks. It was so real. I’ve never had a nightmare like that before.” 

“It’ll be ok. Think you’ll be able to get back to sleep?”

“Probably not.”

“Want to watch a film or something? Being as we’re both awake and it’s hot as hell in here.”

She smiled and sipped her water. “That sounds nice.” 

Tuesday mornings were generally quiet in summer. The kids weren’t stir crazy enough for frazzled parents to venture into the hidden little centre of leaflets and guidance. And the older visitors weren’t due a day out until Thursday. That meant it was office cleaning day and as far as Ianto was concerned it needed it. The place may have a slightly outdated look but that didn’t mean it had to be dusty. He climbed down off the short ladder from taking down the cobwebs from the corner of the room as Melody switched off Henry. Henry was a red vacuum cleaner. It wasn’t an official henry the hoover ™, but it did have a very nice set of googly eyes on the front and it could handle the kind of dirt that would turn an average henry into a box of metal and shattered plastic. The office didn’t need a deep clean but why do half of a job when you could do it properly. 

“I’m thinking of reorganising the posters.” He said, placing the duster onto the counter and wiping the sweat from his brow. A slight breeze wafted in through the propped open door, making a few of the leaflets flutter. 

Mel pushed Henry into the back room and tightened the knot that held her cardigan around her waist. “Really? Do you have something new to put up?”

“No, but I try and move things around once a year so it looks like I do.” 

“The tourism board don’t like you, do they.” 

“They like me just fine, but most places aren’t using posters anymore. They’re all clean lines and web links and we’re…”

“Eighties chic?” 

“Trapped thirty years ago, yes.” He folded up the ladder and hid it behind the desk to be put away later. “What do you think?”

“Me?”

“Well, you work up here more than I do these days so you should have some say in it.” 

“Ok then. Hmm…” She looked around. “It could be more symmetrical.”

“I’ve tried. The sizes won’t allow for it. It lasted a week before I just scrambled them up again.”

“Ah.”

“I could cut a couple of them down a little.” He spotted something new on the desk, a package wrapped in brown paper. “What’s this?”

Mel bounced over. “Oh I meant to open it. My nan was clearing out her loft and found one of my sketch books. There’s a kind of strange story behind it actually.” 

“With you I wouldn’t expect anything else. Go on then.” He handed her a small bottle of lemonade that had been kept cool in a small fridge hidden under the desk. She took it politely and took a swig, feeling the cold go down pleasantly. 

“Well, I was on holiday with my mum and dad, and we went to see my nan. She lived in kidderminster at the time. Anyway, we ended up staying for a few nights and one morning everyone woke up to find me sleeping on the lawn.”

He placed down his drink. “What?”

“Yea. Apparently I’d sleep walked outside in the night. I had this sketchbook held to my chest and I was out like a light in the middle of a fairy circle. Mum said I was running a nasty fever and I insisted my nan had to take care of the sketchbook. I refused to rest until she promised to keep it safe. She played along, bless her, and put it in the loft for safekeeping. I don’t have a clue what I drew in it. It could be blank for all I know.” 

Ianto shuddered at the idea of waking up in a fairy circle. “Let’s have a look then.” 

She tore open the paper wrapping to reveal an old, A5 sized, sketchbook with a sailormoon cover. It brought back a wave of nostalgia. She’d loved that book when she’d got it and had waited to use it until the summer holidays. She turned it over in her hands, noting the grass stain on the top left hand corner, before opening it up. Her name was messily written on the first page in sparkly pink gel pen. 

“How old were you?” 

“Fifteen I think.” She flicked through the pages seeing drawings of landscapes, cats, portraits. She paused at one page and her smile faded.

He leaned over to see what had brought her mood down, seeing an image of a familiar face. “Is that -”

“I… It can’t be.” 

Owen leaned over Toshikos shoulder, looking closely at the project they’d been working on. She’d just finished assembling the components and it looked to be complete. Now they needed to do a live test and, if that went well, installation. Only problem is they needed to ask the subject first. 

Tosh yawned and stretched. “Do you think she’ll be ok with this?”

“As long as we explain the risks then it’ll just be her choice. We’ve tested it every other way available right now.” 

“Ok, I’ll send her a message to come down.” 

The sound of footsteps approaching made them both look up. “That was quick.”

“Telepathy in action?” 

Ianto was glancing around, looking for Jack, as Melody clutched the sketchbook to her chest.

“If you’re looking for Jack, he’s gone with Gwen to pick up a box.” Owen said. “Find something drastic up there?” 

Melody looked down at the book. “We don’t know exactly.” 

He looked at Tosh who shrugged. 

“My nan sent me an old sketchbook… I drew in it while sleepwalking and the pictures… Well, they’re familiar.” 

“How familiar? You’re not making sense.” 

She opened the book and held it out, showing the pencil and chalk image of the face that looked just like Tosh. “I hoped it was a coincidence but…” She turned the page to show an image that was clearly Gwen, her face marred by some kind of mechanical implant. 

“When did you draw these?” 

“I was fifteen.”

“Are they some kind of premonition?” Tosh asked, a little worry in her voice. 

“That’s the thing, I’ve never had a premonition like that before. The few that I’ve had have been mundane at most. This is like nothing I’ve ever done.” 

“Do you remember what you were dreaming about at the time?” 

“No idea. I’m not sure I even was dreaming. I just woke up in the garden and begged my nan to protect the book.”

Ianto frowned. “She woke up in a fairy circle with a fever.” 

“Oh you’re just full of bloody surprises.” Owen sighed. “We’ll have to ask Jack when he gets back as, other than you, he’s the only one who knows anything about this kind of thing.”

Tosh took the book. “Would you mind if I held onto this?”

“Go ahead.” Melody said politely, calming a little. 

Owen took the small device he and Tosh had been developing. “In the meantime me and you need to have a chat about this.”

“Oh? What is it?” She asked as she followed him down to the medical bay. 

He pulled a stool over and sat. “This is a possible solution to your blood pressure problem when you push your telepathy.” 

“Really? How?” She perched on the side of the table and studied the small device. 

“Well, it’s kind of like a data stick. We plug this into one of the implants in your spine and it tells your nervous system that when you use your telepathy it can’t use that part of your brain I pointed out to you to do it.”

“That’s brilliant!” She beamed. 

“Don’t get too excited yet. We’ve tested it the best we can, but this is all new territory so we can’t really predict any side effects. I’ll completely understand if you don’t want to risk it.”

“No, I want to try. It can always be removed can’t it?”

“At the first sign of trouble, yea. Plus I want to monitor you while it’s being used for a while.”

“So, where do we start?”

He turned and pulled what looked like a watch out of one of the draws and handed it to her. “Here. It’s a remote monitor. The second any of your stats go beyond healthy levels I’ll know about it.” 

She wrapped it around her wrist and buckled it.

“Other than that, just lift the back of your shirt and I can plug this in.” 

She pulled up the back of her shirt and he slotted the device into place. It clicked as it slotted perfectly into place. She didn’t feel anything other than the pressure when it was first placed. “Should I feel anything?”

“Not yet. It’ll only activate when it’s needed. Don’t know how we’re going to test it here though.” 

“The simplest method would be finding someone who could combat my reading abilities and setting up a kind of sparring match, but I don’t know what kind of level everyone’s at.” 

Jack turned the strange metal box in his hands, curious about how it opened and what was inside. It wasn’t made of any metal found on earth and it had a kind of vibration to it, like a low hum. It had been dug up during roadwork and as the energy readings it was giving off could give an average geiger counter a heart attack it needed to be contained. That didn’t stop Jack playing with it, but he did have the radiation sponge in his pocket to negate any damage. 

Gwen sighed. “Why do people argue with us taking these kind of things, even after I tell them it could potentially kill them?”

“Greed? Curiosity? A death wish?”

“All of the above? Come on, Tosh and Owen should have finished their little project by now.”

He tucked the box under his arm. “They’re going to need me to test it.” 

“Is that a problem? I thought you were Mr unreadable.”

“Only when she’s not actively trying to read my thoughts. I’m not sure what kind of level she’s at anymore and I’m probably rusty.” 

“It’ll be fine. Where did all your confidence go, eh?”

He smirked. “Oh no, I just don’t want to hurt her by accident.”

“Suuuure.” She laughed and rolled her eyes. “You can test your brain of iron when this is locked safely away.” 

He placed the box in the back of the SUV and walked around to the drivers seat. Gwen had a small mirror in hand and was checking her makeup. “You look beautiful as ever.”

“Oh shush.” She waved him off with a smile. “I scratched my face in my sleep last night.”

“How?”

“Rhys said I just sat up and started scratching like I had an itchy cheek or something. I must have been dreaming but it left red lines. Looked bloody awful so I had to cover them.” 

“I didn’t see you as an active sleeper.” 

“I’m not usually.” She slipped the mirror back into her bag. “Must have been something I ate.” 


	2. Sleep paralysis

Jack turned the pages of the sketchbook, his face unreadable. Tosh had marked each page with a postit note, her ideas written on each in her usual neat handwriting. 

He glanced up from the book at Melody. “You don’t have to look so worried.” 

“Sorry.” She blushed, infinitely uncomfortable with the whole situation. “I feel like I should know all about what’s going on, but I don’t remember a thing.”

“It happens. If these are premonitions then this could be vital to avoiding each of these situations.”

“Maybe.”

He closed the book and placed it down on the desk. “For now I’ve heard you need my help testing Tosh and Owens project.”

“Oh, yes. If you’re ok with that, I mean.”

“Sure. It shouldn’t be so hard to test. Go ahead and try to read what I’m thinking.”

She closed her eyes and concentrated, finding that it was like trying to move through clay, each time she moved closer to a conscious thought it shifted away. She’d never felt anything like it, even from her brief encounters with other telepaths. It certainly wasn’t a defence technique she’d ever learned about. She’d need to ask him about it afterwards. As soon as she’d made it through the first barrier she was met with something similar to a labyrinth, thoughts and memories hidden behind doors upon doors in a spiral of corridors. It was certainly impressive but this was something she was much more familiar with. She pressed her hand against a wall and it disintegrated, falling to a pile of sand, letting her travel through unhindered. Past that she could access his surface thoughts. They, and every thought and memory beyond, swirled in the midst of a shimmering, gold, sandstorm. Some glowed a different hue and she guessed that was how they were organised. She felt for his surface thoughts and pulled one of the glowing grains towards her. It sounded like a story and she realised it was a passage from a book he had on his desk. He’d concentrated on it so it would be something safe to find if she had made it through his defences. She let the thought drift away with the rest. She backed out so not to invade his privacy and opened her eyes to see Jack looking shocked. He hadn’t expected her to get anywhere near that far. 

She smiled as she realised she didn’t have a nosebleed and her heart rate was completely normal. “It worked.”

“Yea. Looks like it did.” He tried to smile but having someone get into his head had shaken him. 

She was much too excited to notice and bounced. “I need to go and thank Tosh and Owen. Thanks for helping me test it.” She dashed off, a huge grin on her face. 

“No problem.” He said softly. It took a while to shake off the unnerved feeling and decided to go back to studying the sketchbook. He paused on the image of Gwen, remembering what she’d told him earlier. Maybe these weren’t premonitions at all. Maybe they were dreams.

Tosh had been examining the box Gwen and Jack had brought back. It was sat next to the radiation sponge until they sent it to storage, and something about it made her feel a mild anxiety she couldn’t quite place. She moved around the box and saw part of the locking mechanism that looked just like a cog. The full extent of her nightmare the night before hit her, the image of a room full of moving cogs. No, not a room, a box. She opened the box and it released the light. That terrifying light that burned its way through her. 

“Tosh?” Gwen rested a hand on her friends arm. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

She jumped, looking between Gwen and the box, trying to find her voice. “The box.”

“What about it?”

“It’s a containment unit. It needs to be sealed permanently.” 

“Ok. You should sit down, you really don’t look well.” She gently guided Tosh over to a chair, then sent a message to Ianto to bring a heavy containment box. “Should I get Owen?”

“No, no. I’ll be fine… I had a nightmare last night… I think it was about this, and I think that’s what Melody drew.”

“Do you think the box caused it?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. It has a huge energy output, but it’s not something that could cause any kind of premonition.”

“I suppose we should just see it as a good thing and let it go if it protected you.” 

“I suppose so.” 

Ianto stopped in the doorway carrying a very bulky box. “You called for a containment box?” 

“That was quick.” Gwen smiled softly.

“I was in the neighbourhood. Is that what needs a new home?” 

She nodded.

He carefully moved the metal cube into the box and locked it, before looking over at Tosh. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Me? No. I’m ok. Thank you for that.” Tosh said sleepily. “Just leave the paperwork on my desk and I’ll get it completed before I leave today.”

“Why don’t you go sit on the sofa and I’ll bring you a drink.”

“Yea.” She stood. “Thanks, both of you.” 

He waited until she was out of sight before turning to Gwen. “Is she really ok?”

“Yes and no? I’ll explain while we walk.” 

That night fell quietly, the air warm and still. Gwen had fallen into an uneasy sleep. The blankets pushed off the bed and window open as far as it would go to try and ease the temperature. A fan hummed as it turned back and forth, the only real relief from the stillness of the night. As she slept she saw swirling lights. As her sight came into focus she realised that the view from each eye was different. From her left the room looked normal, but from the right everything was covered with a red haze. She slid out of bed and walked to the bathroom, switching on the light. In the mirror she saw circuit like markings running up and down from her eye, stretching down her neck, spreading slowly. Her right eye had been replaced with what looked like a camera lens. The glass shimmered red as she reached up to feel if what she was seeing was real. She began to scream.

Rhys jolted awake, hearing his girlfriend screaming next to him. For a moment he was sure they were about to be robbed or killed, but looking around they were the only ones in the room. He turned to Gwen and grabbed her hands as she scraped at the skin of her cheek, dangerously close to her eye. 

“Gwen! Wake up!” He said with a mix of fear and sleep deprived confusion. 

She struggled for a moment before her eyes shot open. “Oh god.” She gasped. 

“It’s ok love I’m here. You were having a nightmare.” 

“My face.”

“Yea, you were scratching it again.” He flicked on the bedside lamp and examined her cheek, brushing her hair back. A set of angry looking red lines decorated her skin. 

She jolted away. “Don’t! I don’t know what it is. It could hurt you.”

“What, what is? Calm down.”

“I can’t calm down Rhys, just look at me!” Tears rolled down her face as she grabbed for her phone. 

He pulled her into a tight hug, heat be damned, and tried his best to comfort her. “There’s nothing wrong with you other than a few scratches. You had a bad dream.” 

“Scratches?” Her heart pounded in her head and her vision was a little blurry from the tears, but as she looked around she found that the view from both eyes was the same. She relaxed into his shoulder. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be silly. You had me worried there for a second. We’re going to have to tape oven gloves to your hands to stop you doing yourself any damage.”

“I haven’t got the chicken pox.”

“You’re scratching enough for it.” He let her sit back. “Looks sore.” 

The salt of her tears was starting to sting a little. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to look in the mirror. Prove it wasn’t real.” 

Jack was having one of those nights where he couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t such a bad thing as it meant he could watch Ianto sleep, which was one of his favourite pastimes aside from their intimate activities. Ianto usually cuddled up to whatever was next to him, either pillows or Jack, but this time he was flat on his back. He’d taken over the small bed so Jack had moved to, what was essentially, a nest of cushions on the floor between the bed and the chest of draws. He reached for his book but found two books under his fingers. Pulling them both down he saw the sketchbook and, hoping there was something he’d missed, he opened it. The image of Ianto was interesting, a gemstone of some kind embedded in his forehead and his eyes devoid of any life. It was interesting but deeply unnerving.

The page after that was Owen looking bruised, his eyes black as night and either blood or ichor running from his eyes. Frankly it was the stuff of nightmares. Without Melody remembering why she ended up outside or what she saw when she drew them he had no context to work with. If Tosh had been right then they were premonitions and her nightmare had been the only thing to stop her trying to open that box and potentially dying. He supposed the images could act as clues so they could watch carefully for any hints. Just because this had turned up almost immediately didn’t mean they all would. 

Tosh had collapsed into bed and almost immediately fallen asleep, resting peacefully, in sharp contrast to the night before. Owen, on the other hand, hadn’t quite been able to settle. He’d decided to go and chill out on the sofa after a couple of hours of tossing and turning. The living room was warm but not too uncomfortably hot. Leaving the curtains closed all day had helped keep out the heat. The tv illuminated the room, playing softly to itself as he finally dropped off, arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t really dream, just staying under enough to rest. The next day would have to involve a lot of caffeine. He awoke again before sunrise, finding that he couldn’t move. He opened his eyes to the flickering light, casting long shadows across the wall and ceiling, showing that there was nothing holding him down. His chest felt tight as he watched the shadows seem to coagulate into a solid form. The figure loomed over him, studying him with its pitch black eyes, tendrils of smoke-like shadow curling and twisting from its semi morphic form. He tried to cry out for help but no sound emerged from his paralysed lips. He could only watch as it leaned closer, crawling over the sofa with its long, withered, arms. The breath caught in his throat as it reached its bony fingers towards his mouth. As fast as it had solidified it faded, retreating back to the shadows that had created it. Owen could finally begin to move his limbs again, digging the heels of his palms into the sofa cushions to try and push himself backwards, his heart still pounding in his chest. It seemed to take hours but was probably only a minute or so before he could move freely again. He clambered off the sofa and skittered to the light switch. There was nothing. After checking on Tosh he slumped back down into the sofa, rubbing his hands over his face. Now fully awake he realised what had happened, sleep paralysis. He’d never experienced it before but he’d heard about it and what he’d just gone through had all the markers, not that it made it any less terrifying. He’d been so sure that creature was about to kill him with Tosh sleeping only one room away. The idea of her waking up to find him like that made a lump form in his throat. He switched off the light and returned to the bedroom, crawling into bed and wrapping his arms around Toshikos sleeping form. She stirred a little. 

“Are you ok?” She mumbled, leaning into him. 

He nodded into her shoulder. “Yea. Go back to sleep.” 

“You’re shaking.” 

“I’m just over tired.” He knew he wasn’t being convincing but he hoped she was still half asleep and wouldn’t notice. 

She kissed the arm under her neck and laced her fingers in his, her breathing soon settling into a steady rhythm as she drifted back to sleep. He held her close for the rest of the night, just needing to know she was there, safe. 

Melody awoke to the sound of her usual alarm tone, but it sounded very quiet. A lot quieter than usual. Where was her pillow? Was her mattress always that hard? In confusion she sat up and realised why things felt so strange. She was laying on the living room floor, surrounded by the spilled contents of one of her pencil cases and a set of scattered sketchbooks. She sat up in the ring of stationary based chaos and tried to make sense of it. How had she even got there? Her head still fuzzy, she plodded to the bathroom and realised her fingers were covered in graphite and chalk. One shower, and a run around her bedroom to get dressed, later she began collecting up the pencils. Placing them back in their case she knew she was avoiding the one thing she knew she should do. One book sat apart from the others, the cover marked with grey fingerprints. She slipped it into her bag, deciding to look at it when she got to work. 


	3. Sleepwalking

Ianto rolled up the last of the posters, ready to rearrange them, when the door opened. 

“Morning.” He smiled. 

Melody smiled in return. “Morning.” Her face was a little pale and she had her jacket zipped up, even though it had been a very warm morning. 

“Aren’t you melting in all that?”

“Melting? No. I can’t seem to get warm to be honest.”

He walked over and pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. “You’re burning up. You should have called in if you’re sick.”

“No, I’m fine. I can’t go home now.”

“Ok, two things. One, you’re clearly not fine and two, why on earth can’t you go home?”

“Ianto, I woke up in the living room this morning.”

“Ok?”

“I sleep walked and…” She took the sketchbook from her bag and handed it to him. “I think I drew in this.”

“You… Think you did?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to look, but my fingers were covered in pencil and chalk, the same as the prints on the cover.” 

“Please tell me you weren’t in the middle of a fairy circle.”

“I was in a circle of pencils and books. I don’t know if that counts.” 

“God I hope not.”

Owen was tired, aching all over and had decided that he just wanted to spend the day asleep. He’d crashed on the sofa, one arm rested over his eyes, listening to the tapping of Toshikos keyboard. Jack had taken Gwen with him on a strange call at a veterinary clinic as Owen had just glared with very tired eyes when he was asked. He heard footsteps and guessed it was Ianto and Mel, unless Jack had forgotten something.

“Mel has a temperature.” Ianto said.

He didn’t even open his eyes. “Tell her to get some rest and stay hydrated. And stay the hell at home. Don’t need the rest of us getting infected.”

“She was sleepwalking last night.”

“Good for her?”

“Owen-”

“Listen tea boy, unless she’s in danger of permanent damage just let me sleep. I’m in no mood for your sorry attempts at banter.”

Ianto dropped the sketchbook onto Owens stomach. 

“The fuck is wrong with you?” The doctor sat up, frustrated and ready to throw something if his workmate didn’t get out of the line of fire sharpish. That was until he saw the look on Iantos face. He rubbed his eyes then looked down at the book, opening it to see the images that had been left there. The first one he recognised. “We can’t let Gwen see this.” 

“I’ll hold on to it.”

“And you.” He pointed to Melody. “Med bay. Maybe we can catch the tail end of what caused this and find out why you’re burning up at the same time. And in future, if you feel ill, don’t leave the house.”

Mel nodded. “Ok.” as she walked shakily to the med bay. 

Pulling up to the veterinary clinic Gwen and Jack were met with the staff standing out on the street. Two police officers were guarding the door but otherwise looked far out of their element. They almost looked relieved when Gwen told them who they were and why they were there. 

“Listen, the thing in there… It looks like a dog but I swear it’s some kind of robot. It’s already killed one of the vets. I wouldn’t blame you if you waited for a swat team or something.” One of the officers said softly.

She looked past him and through the window, seeing the golden labrador pacing back and forth inside, drool running down from unusually shiny teeth. Her cheek began to itch. She paused for a moment before walking over to the collected staff. “Any chance any of you have a face shield to lend me?” 

“Oh, yea, I have one in my car.” One of the vets said, rushing off to the boot of her car. 

Jack waited for Gwen to return, raising an eyebrow at her choice of protective wear. She just shrugged and readied her gun. Jack pushed the door open and stepped into the veterinary office, surveying the damage. Blood pooled across the floor from one of the side rooms, crimson paw prints trailing from it to the far end of the hallway. Jack pushed the door to the source of the blood and winced. He knew there was no chance the body on the floor was alive. Gwen felt like she was being watched.

“Jack, I swear it was in here just a moment ago.” She whispered.

The dog leapt up from behind the reception desk and lunged, taking three bullets to the chest but not slowing for even a second. It growled deeply, its eyes shining red behind swollen eyelids, a mixture of drool and blood splattering across the right side of the face shield only a second before two shots to the head put it down permanently. Jack kicked the body away before it fell on top of Gwen. 

“You ok?” He asked. 

She nodded and sat up, carefully taking off the face shield and tilting it towards the light. “The metal’s in its blood.” 

Owen stretched, his back crunching, wishing he’d slept correctly and not tried to catch up on the sofa. If there was anything unusual that had caused Melodies sleepwalking it was long gone before he had a chance to do any tests. At least her blood test showed she didn’t have any kind of infection. He lent his head on his hand and watched Tosh work. She’d been spending her time digging up everything she could on Osiris. From what she’d told him they had a lot more than she’d first expected so it was wiser not to act right away. All she needed to do was find the weak link in their chain. 

She peeked over her glasses at him. “Did you get any sleep at all last night?”

“Yea… Just doesn’t feel like it.”

“Do you still want to go out tonight or do you want to go straight home?”

“I can go out… Um... Tonight, can we stay at mine?” 

“If you want to. What had you so shaken last night. You were literally shaking when you came to bed.”

“Sleep paralysis. Apparently my brain decided that a huge, black eyed, shadow monster trying to grab my face was just what I needed at five in the bloody morning.”

She pushed her keyboard away and turned her chair so she was facing him. “Do you think it was a premonition? Like mine.”

“I seriously hope not. I never want to see that thing ever again.” He thought back to the sketch of himself with those same black eyes.

“The heat probably didn’t help, but it’s meant to storm tonight so fingers crossed that’ll settle and you can get some rest.”

Jack left the bodies of the vet and the dog for Owen to look at, stressing that they were possibly infected with something highly contagious. He was about to go and check on Melody when Ianto stopped him in the hallway.

“Jack.”

“I love it when you call my name.” He teased playfully.

Ianto rolled his eyes and held out the new sketchbook. “Save it for later. Mel sleepwalked again.”

“What? When?”

“Last night. She woke up on the living room floor surrounded by a circle of pencils.”

He finally took the book. “Not fairies then. Gotta say I’m relieved.” He turned the book in his hands, examining the fingerprints on the cover, before opening it. “So this is why you waited to show me this.”

He nodded grimly. “We’ve avoided Toshikos premonition and if what Gwen’s told me is true then we’ve avoided hers too. That leaves me and Owen still in the line of fire from the old book, but at least we can look out for it and know what we’re doing. I’m not so sure they’ll be the same. No offence to Rhys, he’s resourceful but this is… Something else.”

“I’ll talk it over with Gwen. She can keep watch for him.”

“And Andy?” 

“I… Leave it with me. For now I want to find out if an outside force is causing this. There has to be a reason all of this is happening.”

“Do you think…” He looked down at the book. “No, nevermind.”

Jack tucked the book under his arm. “Tell me. What’s on your mind?”

“I’m not accusing her of anything intentional, but do you think Mel’s somehow causing this? I mean her first sketches were years ago and this starts as soon as she gets them back.”

“I can’t say I haven’t thought about it, but she’d need reality warping abilities and that’s above even her skill level. Short of absorbing the whole time vortex, nothing can give a human that power.”

Ianto relaxed visibly, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Good.”

“But-”

“Oh god.”

“She is a lot stronger than I thought and that’s saying something. I think she’s been hiding something from us. Something that’s setting off her defence response.”

“Surely she’d say something.”

“She might not even realise it’s as bad as it is. Could you talk to her?”

“Me?”

“She’s more likely to be honest with you than she is with me. Me and her have baggage, you don’t have that keeping her from speaking freely.”

“I can try but I can’t promise anything.”

“Thanks.”

“Of course sir. I wonder if she’ll be well enough to come to the pub tonight.”

“Nothing like alcohol to loosen someones tongue.” 

“What? No, that’s not… That isn’t what I meant. I just thought a more casual setting might help.” 

“It’s Melody, work is a casual setting to her. Here’s one of the few places she can relax safely. Unless you fancy a trip out to the middle of the Atlantic that is.”

“I’d rather not.” 

“You were right.” Owen said over his shoulder. 

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “I was?”

“It’s in their blood. Microscopic robots that use the surrounding tissue to replicate themselves and begin converting the body into a mechanised version of itself. They use everything from the iron in the blood to particulate matter in the air. I’m guessing that if you hadn’t put Fido down when you did it would have started trying to chew on anything metallic it could find. It was still in the early stages so it was just working off its base instincts.”

“So if that blood had hit me in the face…”

“It would have infected you through your eye and spread from there.”

“What about the vet?”

“They’re trying to rebuild the body but there’s too much damage for them to repair. I’ve marked the body to be cremated asap just in case.”

“And the dog?” 

“Him too. I’ve taken the samples I need. What did you tell the staff at the clinic?”

“An unknown pathogen carried in the blood. They removed the animals there through a window while wearing full protective gear. There’s no real chance any of them are infected, but I’ve contacted the dogs owner to trace it back to its origin.”

“Doing half my job for me.”

“I thought you could do with a hand. Tosh said you couldn’t sleep.” 

“It’s too bloody hot.”

“Tell me about it. I don’t know how Jack walks around with his coat on in this weather.”

“Never thought I’d  **want** it to rain. Anyway, where did Fidos owner think he picked it up?” 

“That’s an interesting story actually. A couple of days ago Chipper was taken for a long walk through the countryside-”

“Chipper?”

“That’s the dogs name. So he’s out on a walk and he runs off towards what looks like an old aircraft hanger. As Garry walks up to it-”

“Garry?”

“The owner. Stop interrupting, this is important. So Garry walked up to this old hanger and hears people inside. He grabs Chippers collar just as he swallows what he thinks is a rat whole. Suddenly a man in green combat gear walks out with a logo printed on his sleeve and chases them off. Chipper starts acting strange as soon as he gets home and only gets worse, hence the vet visit. Anyway, Garry said this logo looked like an Egyptian hieroglyph.”

“Osiris.”

“Exactly. That’s what I think anyway.” 

“I know they were playing with fire before but if this gets into the wrong hands, or just gets out at all, we could be dealing with something horrific.” 

“Why hasn’t UNIT stepped in? I mean this is huge. They have to know about Osiris surely.”

Owen shrugged. “No idea. They could have dirt on the higher ups for all we know. While I’ve got you here I want to double check you weren’t infected.”

“But I was so careful.”

“It’s just a precaution. It might help you stop scratching your face again.”

“Can you tell?”

“A little bit.” 


	4. Dreamless night

The electricity made the warm evening air feel almost alive as the team walked towards their usual haunt. The sky looked angry, clouds swirling and shifting together, heavy with rain. It was going to be a hell of a storm. Like usual, Tosh hung back with Melody.

“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to go out tonight?” 

Melody smiled. “I’m fine now. Don’t worry about me. How’s your research going?”

“Really well actually. I’m waiting on a few replies so I started looking into why they’re called Osiris which lead me down a rabbit hole.”

“Oh? Anything you can tell me about?”

“Yes, it’s fine. In the early nineteen hundreds an archaeological excavation uncovered a set of twelve strange objects. They were named the twelve eyes of Egypt. Each one had strange effects so the team decided to ship them off to England. On the way the ship they were being transported on nearly sunk, half of the crew were lost, the captain said he’d seen a huge black dog stalking around at night and a fire destroyed the ship the night it docked. The eyes were saved from the burned wreck but were scattered, some stolen, some lost in transit. We actually have one archived. The eye of Set. It can cause sandstorms, even underwater.”

“Wow. So, all of them have that kind of power?”

“According to what I’ve found, yea. Each does something different and I’m starting to suspect the thing in that metal box yesterday was one of them. The eye of Hathor to be exact. We have a report from the archaeologists that has them all named, but it doesn’t give a good description. I think it used to have sketches of them, but they were lost in the ship fire.” 

“That’s amazing. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of the ship fire before. It’s just the kind of creepy story I would have been interested in a few years ago.”

“It was easier to cover things up back then.” 

The muffled sound of a heavy guitar riff rose from her bag and she grabbed for her phone to silence it. 

“You can answer it, you know.”

“It’s just a text.” She quickly read it, a smile forming on her face. 

Tosh couldn’t help herself from swiftly peeking over, seeing little hearts at the end of the message. “Is that from who I think it is?” She asked softly. 

“Maybe.” Mel blushed, chuckling slightly. “We’re organising our third date.”

“You didn’t tell us you’d gone on a second one yet.”

“Yea. Last Sunday.”

“I’m so glad it’s going well.”

“Me too. Now if the world can stop trying to end all the time I’d be set.”

Two rounds in and Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. He was only drinking water, of course, but everyone else was quite merry. As expected, Melody was a lightweight, but she was also a very relaxed and cheerful drunk. Every so often she’d look at her phone and smile. It made him feel worse than he already did about his suspicions when it came to Heather. He glanced over his shoulder at the other people just trying to relax after a long day, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe he was getting paranoid. 

Ianto squeezed his knee gently. “What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Nothing.”

“You feel it too?”

“We’re being watched.” 

“Can’t tell where from though.” He took a sip of his coke, having felt it early on and decided to stay sober. 

The ground below them rumbled deeply, cousin a wave of murmuring across the room. Jack felt a shiver run down his spine. The barman crossed the room and looked out at the street from the doorway, expecting a car crash or something of the sort. 

“That can’t have been thunder.” Gwen said, her worry clear in her eyes. 

Another rumble shook the building, knocking bottles down from the top shelf behind the bar with a crash. Some of the patrons headed for the exit, partially out of simple curiosity and partially out of concern that the ceiling could cave in on their heads. Cardiff buildings were not made to withstand earthquakes. Another, more violent, tremor sent the rest of the patrons into a panic as they fled to the perceived safety of the great outdoors. Tosh gasped, pulling everyones attention, first to her and then where she was staring. The very centre of the floor looked like it was covered in a writhing pool of tar, rising up steadily. The door slammed closed and tables were thrown towards it by an invisible force, blocking any escape in that direction. The tar formed into a long, spindly, arm that reached out to pull whatever it was up and out of the pit. Owens heart felt like it was about to break through his ribs as he recognised the creature. 

“There has to be a back way out of here.” He said through gritted teeth.

Jack nodded. “I’ll try and distract it, you all get out and somewhere safe.”

Tosh took Owens hand and ran for the door behind the bar. As if on cue a tremor plunged the room into darkness, debris falling all around as the building couldn’t hold on any longer. 

Owen winced. He could taste blood and the right side of his face throbbed like he’d been punched. The memory of what had happened rushed back and a fresh rush of adrenaline began to cascade through his veins. He’d pulled Tosh towards him to shield her and he could feel she was still there. 

“Tosh.” His lip stung as he spoke. “Tosh, you with me?” 

She nodded into his chest. “I think so.” Her voice was small and scared. 

“Anything broken?”

“I don’t think so. Where are we?”

“Buried I think. There are a couple of glow sticks in my jacket pocket if you can reach them.”

She felt her way to the inner pockets of his jacket and found what she was looking for. She pulled it towards her chest and cracked it, illuminating the cramped area. The inner wall had fallen but they’d been saved by how sturdy the bar itself was. It gave them a small area they could safely crawl through but not much else. 

“Oh god Owen, looks like you’re going to have a nasty black eye. Are you hurt anywhere else?” 

“Bruised as hell, but I’ll be fine. We need to find out if there’s an easy way to the surface.”

“I think I can feel a breeze from the other end of the bar.”

“Ladies first.” 

She smiled and almost chuckled at how he acted, even in such a potentially dire situation. She wiped a little dust from her eyes then began to carefully crawl towards the other end of the tunnel, the glowstick held between her teeth so she could move around the broken glass littering the floor. Behind her, Owen cracked the second glow stick and followed. The small cave that had been covering their legs, only moments before, collapsed, throwing up a cloud of dust. 

“I think I can see light through here.” She called back, digging her fingers between two large chunks of plaster and wood, carefully digging her way out. 

Owen made the mistake of looking back. Tar dripped down from between the rubble at the far end of the bar. “Tosh, might want to hurry up a bit.” He said, eyes fixed on the monster. 

“I’m trying. What’s happening?” 

“That thing knows we’re here.”

She gritted her teeth and pushed upward with all her might, feeling rain on her face as she climbed out of the hole. Owen pushed himself backwards, desperate to get away from the crawling mass that was closing in on him. 

“What do you want with me?!” He shouted, looking into the creatures eyes. He felt it claw at the edges of his mind.

“I… want… your… vessel.” It said, sounding like bubbling oil. 

Just as it reached his feet he felt hands grip his shoulders to pull him out by his shirt. Ianto grabbed a large chunk of wall and slid it across the hole, hoping to slow the beast down. The outer walls of the pub still stood but the roof and second floor had collapsed. 

“I can’t find the others.” Ianto said, rain dripping down his face. “I only found you because I heard digging.”

Tosh helped Owen to his feet. “Did you see where they were when the ceiling fell?”

“Jack was right next to me but I think that part of the floor fell through to the cellar. I think Gwen was with Melody by the table but other than that, I don’t know.” 

“We’ll have to trust Jack is ok for now. Going down there could get us killed.”

Owen watched the black tar begin to rise from between the pieces of rubble. “If we stand here we’re going to get killed anyway!” 

Jack brushed the blood from his forehead and sat up, taking a torch from his pocket to work out where he was. As he looked around the cellar he considered that if he was buried there for however long at least he could try and drink himself into a near stupor. Maybe he could escape through the delivery hatch as the steps up were covered in rubble. He needed to get up there and find his team. He couldn’t dwell on negative ideas, just had to keep going. Always just had to keep going. He moved a barrel bit by bit over to the wall until it was close enough to give him access to the outer trap doors. He was about to climb up when something caught the light from his torch. It was an orb, about the size of a football, made of stone but polished to a mirror shine on one side. The other side was covered in hieroglyphics, though they didn’t look Egyptian exactly. As he picked it up he felt the hum of power, similar to the box that Tosh had asked to be archived. He tucked it under his arm and climbed up onto the barrel. He banged his fist on the metal door, hearing voices above. It rattled for a while before opening, the barman standing above, soaked to the bone from the rain. 

He helped Jack up and out of the cellar. “I swear, since I dug that thing out of the garden nothing’s gone right.” He gestured to the stone orb. 

“Mind if I take it?”

“Go ahead. If I ever see it again it’ll be too soon, but are you ok? That was a hell of a fall.”

“I’ve always been sturdy.” He dashed off, around the back of the building, hoping to find another way in. A second floor window had been left open and wasn’t blocked by debris. He clambered up the drainpipe and pushed his way through, spotting three of his team cornered by the huge creature. “Hey! Big guy! Look what I found.” He held up the orb.

The beast turned and hissed, charging across the debris towards him. He brought it down, as hard as he could, against the wall and it shattered. Chunks fell away as the creature let out an ear piercing screech, almost drowning out the thunder rolling above. 

Gwen covered her ears, trying to block out the screech from above. She was hidden under one of the booth tables with Melody who had taken a chunk of wall to the head. It had knocked her out and she was taking a while to come round. 

“Come on sweetheart. I don’t think they can hear me so I really need you to wake up.” She said, checking Mels pulse. It was still strong thankfully. The blond woman stirred, whimpering at the pain in her head.

“Thank goodness. Melody, don’t move too much, ok?”

“Gwen? What happened?” 

“The ceiling caved in. I’ve been calling out but I don’t know if there’s even anyone up there to hear us. I’ve got no phone signal either.”

“Ok.” Mel said, perfectly calm. She reached out telepathically, finding plenty of familiar minds. “We’re stuck down under a table. We’re ok but I hit my head. We could really do with someone digging us out.” Her voice rose up, unhindered by the layers of wood and plaster above. 

Gwen smiled softly. “You’d be great at search and rescue.”

“That used to be part of my weekends. Finding lost kids and stuff. It was that or talking to people in comas or none verbal patients at the hospital. My mum said I shouldn’t let so many people know about my condition just in case.”

“That’s a really nice thing to do. Must be hard though, all that fear and confusion.”

“A bit. I always just thought it was worth it to help. I’m soft like that… Gwen.”

“Yea?”

“How’s Owen going to check if I have a concussion if he can’t look into my eyes?”

She chuckled softly. “I have no idea. You’re still a bit drunk, aren’t you?” 

“A little bit. Probably a good thing right now. Ianto thought we were being watched before. He just looked the wrong way when he tried to work out who.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I didn’t think a wall could actually be the thing watching us.”

“It was in the walls.”

“Exactly.”

“Other than the pain from where a chunk of roof smacked you, how are you feeling?”

“I’m ok. No dizziness or anything.”

Gwen looked through her bag, thankful that it had been kept by her feet so it was undamaged, and took out her first aid kit. She handed Mel a cotton pad to hold on the wound to her scalp.

“Thanks. I don’t think it was the bump on the head that knocked me out. When everyones minds screamed it was too much for me. Good news is no nose bleed.”

After a long session of digging in torrential rain, thunder still rolling overhead, Gwen and Mel were released from their table based prison. Jack had gone back to get the SUV and picked the others up. Owen had been telling one of the paramedics that he didn’t need to go to the hospital and to leave Melody alone. They didn’t understand why she wouldn’t let them look at her eyes and were starting to think it was a sign of a very bad head injury. She was very happy to escape into the SUV. Back at the hub Tosh helped Owen clean the cuts on his face, knowing that the bruising around his eye was only going to get worse. Thankfully there were no fractures to speak of. On closer inspection the cut on Mels head was just that, and she showed no other signs of a concussion so Owen was happy to let her go home. Before Jack took everyone home Ianto pulled her aside. 

“Mel? Just in case, do you want to stay here tonight? With your sleepwalking as well.”

“Sure. That’s probably a good idea. I’ll go and shower and check what clothes I have in my locker.” She smiled and headed off, ready to warm up. 


	5. Night terrors

Melody lay on her side, her phone rested on a pillow in front of her as she settled in the recovery room for the night. She had three missed calls and decided she really should return them. She tapped Heathers contact and the loudspeaker icon. 

“Mel? Are you ok?”

“Yea. I’m fine. Did the earthquake reach the news?”

“Of course it did. It’s an earthquake in bloody Cardiff. People are saying a building collapsed with people inside.”

“Yea? I don’t think it was that bad. You know what people are like.” 

“As long as you’re ok… I can’t wait for next week. It’s going to be so much fun.”

Melody chuckled to herself. “Yea. Are you sure you’re ok with it?”

“One hundred percent. I might have bought a few new things to bring with me.” She purred.

“I’m so glad I don’t have next door neighbours. I am not a quiet woman.”

“That more than works for me.” 

“I should get some sleep. Talk to you tomorrow?”

“Sure. Sweet dreams.” 

“You too.” She hung up the call and rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling, her cheeks burning. She pulled the blanket up to her neck and closed her eyes, ready to get some real rest. 

Ianto looked around him in a haze, his whole world tinted a bright crimson, his body moving without his input. No matter how hard he fought he was just an observer in his own body. His head pounded like he had the worst migraine he’d ever experienced. He saw Jack approaching him and tried to beg for help, but no sound emanated from his lips. The sound of his lovers voice that was usually so soothing was like knives stabbing into the back of his eyes. He watched in horror as his own fist flew forward. Jack deflected the punch but didn’t see the second strike coming, slamming into his temple and dropping him to the floor. Ianto screamed at his own body to stop as his boot came down onto Jacks head. He awoke with a cry, not knowing where he was or what was happening in the dark. Having full control of his body again, he tried to back himself into a corner, fending off whoever was trying to stop his struggling. As the room lit up he began to pull his thoughts together and heard Jack calling his name. He calmed and stared at Jack as if working out if his was real or not, before falling forwards and wrapping his arms around the man. Clinging onto him desperately. 

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t control it. I-” Ianto spluttered, his heart still racing. 

Jack rubbed his back gently. “You had a nightmare, it’s ok. Nothing happened.” 

“It felt so real. I tried not to hurt you but-” 

“Ianto. Look at me. It was just a bad dream, yea?” He pulled away enough that he could lift Iantos chin and look into his eyes. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me.” 

He nodded, still shaking a little from the sudden rush of adrenaline. 

“Do you remember where we were in your dream?”

“No… Sorry.”

“We’ll work it out.”

They heard soft footsteps from above before a small voice spoke. “Is everything ok? I heard someone shout and it didn’t sound like it was for any good reason.” 

“Just a nightmare.” Jack called, finding it kind of sweet that she’d made her way up just to check on them. He pulled the blanket across both of them. “We’re mostly decent if you want to see for yourself.”

She sat at the edge of the hatch and looked down, giving a small wave. “Hi. I thought something horrific had happened.”

“And you walked right into it?”

“I am not a smart woman when my friends are in trouble.” She gave a soft smile. “Premonition?”

Ianto nodded. “I think so.” 

“Going on how fast everything is happening, maybe you could just have a few days off so you’re out of harms way. Make it so that future can’t be a possibility anymore.”

“Would that even work? It feels like these things are getting closer and closer to happening.”

“Whatever made me draw those pictures has to have a reason for it. It has to want to stop whatever is happening.”

Jack wasn’t convinced, but he knew that it wasn’t the time to argue the point. “If Toshs theory is correct then we have a list of the things causing this. We just need to contain them before anyone else gets hurt.”

“If only I’d drawn a map in my sleep… Anyway, I should leave you to get some sleep.” She carefully stood. “Goodnight.”

Rhys sat up in bed, his mouth dry and eyes heavy. He checked on Gwen, finding that she was sleeping peacefully, before walking to the kitchen to get a drink. It had been a rough few days with neither of them sleeping well but as the temperature had dropped to something much more liveable, and Gwen wasn’t scratching her face anymore, he could finally rest. He took a good gulp of water and turned to return to bed when he saw two glowing, red, eyes in the dark. His breath caught in his throat as he stared into the crimson lights. A low growl hit his ears and the glass slipped from his hand. Moments later Gwen flicked on the light and for a fraction of a second he saw the owner of those red eyes. It was a huge, black furred, animal. It looked halfway between a dog and a fox, the image of its long fangs etched into his memory. 

“Rhys? What are you looking at? What’s going on?” She asked, half asleep and completely confused. 

He looked to her and back at the empty space where the creature had been. “You didn’t see it?”

“See what?”

“I… I must have been seeing things.” He grabbed a towel to mop up the spilled water and carefully began picking up the shards of glass.

She crouched down with him, stroking his cheek. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Let me clean this up.”

“I really hope this isn’t alien stuff.” He was only partially joking. 

She took the towel and finished placing the shards of glass inside it before throwing out the lot. “You might just have been dreaming.”

“I know that’s meant to be reassuring love but after the last few nights I’m not so sure.” 

Thunder still rolled in the sky over Cardiff as the morning arrived. Owen practically fell into his chair, looking worse for wear and tired. The bruising across his right eye was dark and looked painful, as did the cut in his lip. He was ready to just bury his head in some kind of research and cruise through the day, but as there was one more sketch that hadn’t come true yet he doubted that would happen. Melody placed a can of cola and a straw next to him as he popped a couple of painkillers. 

“How are you feeling?” She asked. 

He threw the pills back and swallowed them down with a gulp of cola. “Like the phantom of the opera after a run in with a speeding truck. Not nursing a hangover are you?”

“Perks of being a lightweight, as long as I drink lots of water I don’t get a hangover.”

“Where’s Ianto anyway? Usually he’s bitching at me about the state of my desk by now.”

“He’s feeding the fishers right now.” Her smile faded. “He had a night terror last night. I heard him scream from down in the recovery room.”

“Let’s just hope we can get whatever’s after him dealt with today so it doesn’t happen again.” 

“Did you look at the other sketchbook? I still haven’t been able to.”

He raised an eyebrow, curious about why after all she’d seen that was what drew the line for her. “Yea. Two new pictures. You can see when we tell Gwen about it.”

“People I’d know?” She rubbed the pendant around her neck between her fingers.

“Rhys and Andy. Jack’s still working out what he wants to do, so I think he’s waiting for Gwens input. Personally, I think a few days in quarantine down in the cells would fix it but it’s not my decision.” 

Tosh smirked to herself. “And Gwen would slap you for the suggestion.”

“I’ve been slapped by a building. I don’t need her knocking my teeth out too.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t go that far.”

“She would. I know she would.”

“Who’d do what?” Gwen asked as she walked in. “Bloody hell Owen, are you sure nothing was cracked?” 

“I’m sure, but it feels like something did. Stopped scratching in your sleep?”

“Yea. I was out like a light most of the night.”

The other three shared a look before Owen spoke again. “Most of the night?”

“Rhys dropped a glass at stupid o’clock this morning. Said he saw something but wasn’t anything there when I walked in.”

“Did he say what he’d seen?” Tosh asked, looking clearly unnerved.

“No. Why? What’s wrong with you lot this morning?” 

Noone wanted to break the news but as she had set the cogs into motion Melody decided to take that bullet. “I sleep walked again and made two more pictures. One of them was of Rhys.” 

“What?” Gwens face fell. “What kind of image? What should he be careful of? I can call him.”

Tosh took the book from her desk draw and held it out. 

Rhys yawned then finished off the extremely strong and awfully bitter coffee often found in his office. He hoped he wouldn’t fall asleep at lunch and wake up with dicks drawn all over his face, but he was sure the thunder would help keep him relatively alert. It kept shaking the walls. He donned his reflective jacket and headed out into the rain to give one of the trucks, driven by one of the new lads, was secured correctly. The rain made it hard to see beyond a few feet in front of him and, as he crossed the yard, he couldn’t tell if what he was seeing was a vehicles break lights from afar or something else. As he walked a dark shape formed around the lights. It was humanoid but much too tall and had what looked like large pointed ears. If he didn’t know better he’d say it was a werewolf. Maybe it was something the lads had put out to scare the new guy, a cutout with LED eyes. A deep growl cut through the hiss of the rain.

“Ok, knock it off now. You’ve had your fun.” He called, the animalistic sound sending shivers down his spine after the night before. 

The cutout moved, the rain pouring off its fur as it began its slow approach, breath sending clouds into the air. It was like a scene from a horror film. Rhys couldn’t believe what he was seeing and his mind screamed for him to wake up and end the nightmare. But it didn’t end. This wasn’t a nightmare. 

“Human. Stay still and I will make this painless.” The beast said, its voice sounding like the barks of a large dog. 

He wasn’t staying still to let this monster do anything. He turned on his heel and sprinted away, kicking himself for not going to the gym more often. He just needed to get to the office and call Gwen. She’d know what to do. She always knew what to do. 

The creature easily leapt through the air and landed in between him and the safety of the office. It raised it huge, clawed, hand and Rhys braced for it to hit. Instead he heard a barrage of deafening pops followed by a dull thud. Opening his eyes he saw the creature almost melting away, leaving only a stone sphere with a large chunk shot out of it behind, and Gwen running towards him. He welcomed her with open arms. 

“Did it hurt you?” She asked, checking him over.

He laughed, his brain not quite having worked out what was going on. “You saved me. What was that thing?”

“Let’s get out of the rain and I’ll explain.”

Ianto wrote down the serial number from the tag on the latest dust covered item that, in his opinion, was archived in the completely wrong place. It was one of the older rooms and he’d only just gotten around to sorting it. At least he’d be safe there for a while. He heard familiar footsteps approaching and Melody walked in with a box of new tags under one arm and a box of cleaning supplies under the other. 

“Just pop them on the table over there.” He nodded. 

She placed them down and handed his security pass back to him, as she’d been lent it to get through some of the lower archive doors. “How’s it going?”

“When you archive something there’s meant to be a system so you can find something again. This wasn’t organised with any kind of system. They abandoned things on shelves and hoped for the best.” He grumbled, slipping his security pass back into its holder.

“At least you’re fixing that now. You could do with some better lighting in here.”

“Count yourself lucky, some of the accessible floors lower down still have oil lamps.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. I’ve told Jack I’m not even venturing down there without electric lighting and a canary.” 

She chuckled and looked around at the shelves upon shelves of boxed or tagged items. Some that looked almost recognisable and others that were, literally, alien. Ianto took a large jar from one of the shelves and carried it over to the table to see the writing on the yellowed paper label in better lighting. It was filled with a clear, yellowish, liquid and something fleshy floating in it. 

“What is that?” She asked, tilting her head to try and figure out if it was even the right way up.

Reading the faded ink he replied. “This is apparently the heart of an unknown species. Very helpful. It’s probably too degraded to ever identify, but I can file it with the other unidentified samples. It looks like the lab of Dr Frankenstein in that corner.”

“Probably the closest thing to Dr Frankenstein lab.”

“Ever read the book?”

“Yea, a while ago. It’s more of a tragedy than a horror.”

“Except the digging up dead bodies and sewing them together bit.”

“Well yea. But otherwise… I didn’t realise how huge this place actually is.”

He wrote a new label for the jar and set it aside to take it to its new home later. “Apparently it used to be even bigger. It had its own train line, living areas, labs, almost like Torchwood one was, just underground. An earthquake, which might have been more of a rift quake, destroyed a lot of that. Even if it was still there a lot of the rooms would probably be abandoned these days.”

“Is that why Jack sleeps in that little bunker?”

“Maybe? I’ve never really asked him why he stays there specifically. I think he always wants to be ready to go if there’s a rift alert plus I doubt there’s anywhere in Cardiff that’s safer than there. That little room could survive almost anything.”

“So, it’s a safe room.”

“I suppose so.”

“Sounds more like he’s too scared to sleep anywhere too open. Same as he only drinks water when he goes out.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s hard to spike water because you’ll always be able to taste whatever’s been put in there. He’s always on the defensive.”

“You can’t blame him in this line of work.” 

“True. Must be stressful though.”

He returned to the shelf and pulled down a small, wooden, chest, bringing it back to the table. “Doesn’t look like this one’s labelled. That or it’s fallen off.”

“Should we open it?” 

“Pass me some gloves.” He slipped on the gloves she handed him and flicked the buckles of the leather straps on the chest open. Lifting the wooden lid he sighed. “Looks like whatever it was is shattered now.” It looked to be filled with broken glass. He tipped the shards carefully onto the table hoping to work out what it had been. Something pulsed with a red light from the centre of the pile and before he could place the box back over it, it rose up into the air, the glass shards began swirling around it. “Run!” He ordered, gesturing for her to get out. 

She did as she was told at first but when he wasn’t right behind her she stopped. She wasn’t going to leave her friend behind with whatever that was. She grabbed the handle of the broom that was lent against the wall in the hallway, pulling it free from the brush and wielding it like a bat. 

Ianto had his arms up to protect his face as the shards swirled around the central gem, slicing anything that got too close. His sleeve was in tatters and he knew his arm would be next. He opened an eye as he heard a crash, the broomstick landing a decent hit on the gemstone, loosening the control it had over the glass-like shards. “I told you to run!”

“I’m not just going to leave you to get diced up!”

The stone rose back into the air and a voice like metal scraping glass rang from it. “We have been betrayed! I will avenge the fallen!” It screamed. 

He sprinted away, holding onto Mels hand so she didn’t fall behind. Taking a sharp left he threw them both into a side room, kicking the door closed and barring it with the broomstick. 

“What now?” She asked, catching her breath. 

He grabbed two boxes and began building something she didn’t recognise. “We destroy it.”

“How?” 

The door fell away, large gouges in the door-frame where the hinges had been dug out, and the mass of glass pulled itself into an almost humanoid form. It was met with the business end of the Rhykanik plasma cannon Ianto had put together. 


	6. Insomnia

Owen and Tosh made their way towards where they’d heard the blast, weapons at the ready, medical kit slung over his shoulder. Dust still hung heavy in the air and the smell of heated ceramic was strong. 

“Ianto?” Owen called out. “What’s going on down here?” 

After a short silence Ianto replied. “It’s ok. We’re in here.” 

They looked around the obliterated door frame to see him taking apart the plasma cannon. Melody gave a small wave then pointed to the melted remnants of the gemstone that had made itself part of the floor. 

“We have a plasma cannon?” Tosh asked, stepping around the translucent mess.

Ianto nodded. “It only had one shell left. Now it has none.”

“Right, want to tell us why you needed to fire a bloody plasma cannon in our workplace?” Owen interrupted before the two tech minded agents got too far into cooing over alien weaponry. 

Ianto sighed. “That used to be the thing from the sketch. It’s been in the archive for some time apparently… It had no intention of talking things through, especially after Melody hit it with a broomstick.” 

“It’s not as if I could influence its mind. I couldn’t even sense it.” Melody said, looking away as if she’d done something wrong.

“It was a good shot. I’d be that things puppet by now if you hadn’t.”

“We know you’re safe now though. That just leaves Rhys and Andy.”

Owen slid the medical kit from his shoulder. “Actually it’s just Andy now. Gwen and Jack got there just in time to stop Rhys getting mauled.”

“What now then?”

“Jack actually liked my idea so we might have to sort out some sleeping arrangements for him here.” 

“Gwen’s not going to like that.”

“She’d hate it more if he ended up like that picture.”

Andy was enjoying his first day off in quite a while, his feet up on the sofa, tv remote in his hand. The call of the doorbell threatened to disturb his rest but he decided to employ the turtle method, hide until it goes away. Whatever it was, he didn’t want any. They weren’t giving up, whoever it was. His phone rang, forcing him to get up. 

“Hello?”

“Open the bloody door, it’s tipping it down out here.” A very grumpy Gwen said in reply. 

He rushed to the door and unlocked it. “Sorry. Didn’t realise it was you- oh, is this work related?” He asked, realising that Gwen wasn’t alone.

“Can I explain inside?”

“Y-yea. Do you need a towel?”

“Please.” 

He went to grab a couple of towels from the airing cupboard and handed them over. “Have you both been swimming?”

“No, but it feels like it. Anyway, we’re not just here to get out of the rain… How do I put this… Um…” 

Jack quickly towelled off his hair so the water wasn’t dripping into his eyes. “What she’s trying to say is your life’s in danger so you need to come with us.”

“Danger? From what?” Andy started to consider that this might be some sort of prank. After all, who’d be after him?

“We can discuss it when you’re somewhere safe.”

“Do I have time to pack?”

“You have ten minutes.”

He shot off to pack an overnight bag, leaving the two agents drying off in the hallway.

Gwen frowned. “Are you sure about this? Showing him the hub and everything.”

“We can retcon him once he’s out of danger.”

“We don’t even know when that’ll be. I mean if he avoids it we might not know where the thing’s even gone afterwards.”

“It’ll show itself, trust me. The eyes activating all at once can’t be a coincidence. I don’t know what they have planned, or what’s pulling the strings, but I know we have to stop it before it starts, and your friend might be the last thing we need to make sure it ends now. And if nothing else we can make sure he doesn’t start sleepwalking and just waltz into the road in the middle of the night.” 

Ianto had left his destroyed jacket next to his locker and rolled up his sleeves. He could at least try to look presentable, even after blasting an archive room a new doorway. Melody was dealing with making sleeping arrangements for Andy so he was free to calm down and let the rest of the adrenaline run out. It was just one of the perks of having an assistant, another was being given the chance to have a front row seat to Gwen showing the hub to her ex workmate. It could go one of two ways: one, he’d have a full meltdown with a side of existential crisis and a swift sedation and retconning for dessert, or two, he’d stare in awe at what had become almost mundane for the team and suddenly find a desperate need to stick around. He wasn’t sure which he hoped for more. The former wouldn’t leave anyone horribly disappointed and more than a little empty inside, but it would leave them with a huge gap in their memory and the worst hangover of their life. It was swings and roundabouts really. 

Jack appeared first, sweeping through the door, looking a bit less like a drowned rat than he had when he’d first arrived at Andys home, with Gwen close behind. She held the door and ushered Andy through.

Ianto wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen the police officer in anything other than his uniform. It was odd.

“So this has been here the whole time?” Andy asked, eyes wide as he surveyed the large room. 

Gwen smiled. “Yep. And a long time before either of us were born. Welcome to the hub.”

“I can’t believe you have an actual secret base. Like an  **actual** secret underground base.”

“That’s not all we’ve got.”

“There’s more?”

“Oh so much more. I wonder if she’s around.”

“Who?”

“Myfanwy’s in her nest.” Ianto said, pointing upwards. “She’s awake if you want to call her.”

“Who’s Myfanwy?” 

Gwen gave a mischievous grin then whistled loudly. There was a whoosh of air from above as the pteranodon swooped down in a lazy spiral, letting out a long caw-like cry that said ‘I can make loud noises too’. Andys jaw dropped as he watched the prehistoric creature approach. 

“That… That’s a dinosaur.”

“This is Myfanwy. She’s our semi tame hub pet.” Gwen reached up to stroke the dinosaurs leathery beak. “And guard bird.”

“That’s a pteranodon.” 

Jack grinned. “Well spotted. Most people call her a pterodactyl.”

“I liked dinosaurs as a kid, but that’s beside the point, you have an actual, living, breathing, dinosaur. That’s just…”

“Impossible?”

“Amazing! How did she get here?” The man practically bounced, reminding Jack of a labrador when it’s offered a new toy.

“A rift in time. Well, a rift in time and space. Ianto found her and, with the help of some chocolate and a little good luck, we got her here.”

“So, wait, is that what Torchwood deals with then? The strange stuff coming from this rift in time and space.”

“He catches on quick. Anything, or anyone, that visits this planet has to deal with us. Earths final defence against invasion, disaster and, most of the time, itself.” 

“Other planets? Oh come on, now you have to be pulling my leg.”

“You’ll happily believe in a time displaced pteranodon, but not life on other worlds?”

“Well, there are fossils and stuff to prove dinosaurs existed, but aliens… Little green men.”

“They’re not all green, or men, or little for that matter.”

“Jack!” Gwen scolded, unable to wipe the smile from her face. 

“I meant tall.”

“You didn’t and you know it.” 

“If you don’t like my description then why don’t you take Mr Davidson to see Janet?” 

“Don’t you usually want to do the honours?”

“I would, but I heard something happened while we were out so that needs my attention. I’ll trust you to do it this once.”

“Come on then, you get to meet one of our long term residents.” She beckoned Andy towards the steps leading down to the cells. 

Ianto had taken a moment to explain what had happened after Gwen took Andy to see Janet. 

Jack was quiet for a long moment. “You’re safe now, I don’t care about a broken door.”

“What took you so long to answer?”

“I couldn’t remember when or where we got the plasma cannon.”

“Well, until we can find some more shells it’s pretty much useless.”

“I’m sure Tosh can cook something up. Now, let’s just hope we don’t have any more of the eyes unlabelled in the archive.” 

“My sleeves would appreciate it.” He unfolded his sleeve and showed the torn fabric. “The thing spoke after Mel hit it.”

“Yea?”

“It said they’d been betrayed. I’m wondering if whatever gave Mel those visions is one of the eyes.”

“It could be, that begs the question of why. Otherwise it could have mistaken her for someone else. Right now, we just have to stop one of them from using Andy as a vessel. If these things can cause earthquakes and take solid form when they’re weak I’d hate to see what they could do with a vessel to channel their power through.” 

“Why a human though? Compared to stone, humans are fragile and easy to kill.”

“I don’t think they care. Once they have a body to transfer into they can work on the defensive side of things. As they are they’re pretty easy to contain. Just got to find a body that’s compatible.” 

“I wonder why now of all times.” 

“Likely the first time that many have had compatible humans so close together.” 

Janet let out a low growl at the new person staring at her. 

“Oh be nice.” Gwen said softly to the weevil. “This is Janet. She’s a weevil.”

Andy couldn’t tell if this was an actual creature or a person in a costume as he studied her from the safe side of the glass. “So, she’s an alien.”

“Yep.”

“Where’s she from?”

“We don’t know exactly. The weevils have been here for a while now and as they can’t talk we can’t ask where they originally came from. They live in the sewers and storm drains.”

“How many?”

“Loads. We have to catch them if they get brave and try hunting on the surface. Believe me now?”

“I… I don’t know. Part of me thinks this is some really elaborate prank. Latex mask and all.” He tilted his head, matching the movements of the weevil.

She stared at him for a long moment. “Seriously?”

“It’s just hard to believe, isn’t it.”

“I know.” She beckoned him along to a cell much further down, the sound of a water filter humming and bubbling away. The door slid open with a clunk and she stepped onto the soft sand. “Come on, these ones don’t bite.” She pushed the door closed once he was inside but it didn’t lock. 

“Why are we in a zoo enclosure?” 

“Because we keep two little alien creatures in here. Now, let’s see where they’re hiding.” She knelt in front of the large tank and tapped the glass. Two little one eyed faces peeked out from a small cave, hidden in the plants at the back of the tank. “This one’s called Raspberry and this one’s called Peaches. They’re red lake fishers. Not only are they from another planet, but they’re also from the future.”

He knelt in the sand next to her and watched the two creatures swim in a graceful spiral to the surface, climbing down into a shallower pool before shaking off to stand on the sand. They chirped and sniffed at him. “Are they friendly?”

“Yea, they’re completely tame, but they will try and take anything shiny back to their den so keep an eye on your phone and keys.”

Peaches reached out with a cool little hand and held Andys finger, turning his hand over to see if he was holding any food. “They have eight legs.”

“They do.”

He stroked the fishers slick fur, smiling as it head-bumped his hand like an affectionate cat.

“Believe me now?”

“I guess I have to… All this time you’ve been working with aliens… Does Rhys know?”

“He does but it took me ages to get Jack to let me tell him. Top secret organisations don’t usually let your family know what your job’s about.” 

He chuckled as Raspberry climbed up onto his shoulder. “You know, I was upset for a long time after you left, but now I can’t really blame you.”

“It’s not all dinosaurs and friendly wildlife though. I’ve seen things noone should ever have to, been up to my elbows in blood, been only inches from death so many times. It’s worth it but… It’s not easy.” 

“I wish you could have talked about it. Remember the first fatality we went to?”

She nodded softly, drawing circles in the sand with her fingertip. 

“You called me at three in the morning and we just talked until the sun came up.”

“We were both a mess.”

“But it helped, didn’t it. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you once you got here.”

“What are you apologising for? I was the one who just disappeared off with barely a word.”

“Still… I missed you. It was like I suddenly lost my best friend.”

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

“No… No, you couldn’t help it. Anyway, you seem a lot happier here.”

“Um… Andy?”

“Yea?”

“I think they have your keys.”

He looked up to see Raspberry dive into the tank holding his house keys. 


	7. Night fever

Melody coughed. The dust from the building collapse sitting heavily in her weakened lungs as she finished changing the bed in the recovery room. For all of the odd amalgamation of old and new that the hub was made out of the recovery room was actually rather comfortable. She wondered why Jack hadn’t converted one of the rooms into something similar to stay in instead of the small bunker. He didn’t stay there for comfort, she supposed, just convenience. Her phone buzzed from her pocket. Checking it she found a new text message :  _ Hope you’re still doing ok. Turns out I have tomorrow off. Fancy some company after work? I have a new corset I want to show off and Mum doesn’t need the car until next week so I’m free to drive it all I want. <3 <3  _

She smiled, her cheeks flushing brightly as she sent a quick message back, just saying she was looking forward to it and that she’d be out of work by five. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and picked up the laundry bag, turning to remove it. The door opened and Andy smiled. “Oh, hello.”

“Hi. I got this room tidy for you, we thought it would be a lot more comfortable than anything we could do with one of the cells.”

“Didn’t know I was being locked up.”

“Protective custody. Hopefully just for the night if recent events are anything to go by.”

“I’ve been told a little bit about it but it’s a lot to take in.”

“Totally understandable. It’s a lot even when you’re in the middle of it.” She chuckled before coughing again, turning her face into the crook of her elbow to stifle it. “Sorry.”

“You ok?”

“Oh, yes. I’m fine. Still dealing with the dust from the pub collapse. I’m surprised I’m the only one with a hacking cough. Though Owen looks a lot worse off than me.”

“Wait, you were all inside that building? I was told everyone was outside.”

“Yep. We’re all alive and kicking so it’s not the biggest deal.”

“So… Is Owen ok?”

“He has a shiner of a black eye and a few cuts but otherwise he’s fine. Anyway, I’ve got to take these to be washed, but I’ll probably see you in a little bit.”

“I’ll look forward to it.” He waved as she swept out, a slight bounce in her step. He sat down on the bed, able to let things sink in for the first time since his doorbell rang. He reached over to where Mel had left his bag and realised his hands were shaking. He remembered the last time he’d felt like this. It was the day he’d tackled a man, high as hell on crack, wielding a large kitchen knife. He’d already stabbed one officer in the leg and Andy knew he couldn’t let anyone else get hurt. It was that terrifying rush of adrenaline when you knew you either had to act or see someone else get hurt, and the former was the only option. This time he didn’t even know what was holding the knife or where it was charging from, but at least he had backup. For all the opinions he heard about Torchwood he knew they had to be putting themselves in that position more than anyone knew. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. All the hospitalisations, the property damage, the dead bodies, all led back to Torchwood taking on things much bigger than your everyday police officer. But they worked on the same principle. To protect people. He wanted to help, that’s all he’d ever wanted. 

Tosh waved Jack over. “I’ve found fragments of information about the eyes, matched them up with the images we have and cross referenced them with some of our oldest archive notes after what happened earlier.”

“And you’ve found something?”

“I was right about the box, it did contain the eye of Hathor. The orb from the pup was the eye of Kek and one of the most dangerous from the list. The one that caused the cybernetic virus is the eye of Ptah, and is being held inside of an Osiris field lab. They can’t move it. I’ve been working backwards through their communications using the addresses and names we recovered from the cult and even they believe it’s too dangerous to use. I think we can contain it, or destroy it, as right now there are only ever three guards at the premises at any one time.”

“Nice work. Looks like what I’m doing tonight.”

“I have more. I linked up the one that chased down Ianto with the eye of Sekhmet. That one’s had a host before and it caused three hundred casualties and twelve fatalities before it was contained.”

Jack winced at the very idea that Ianto could have been taken over by something that dangerous. “It won’t be hurting anyone now.”

“The one you brought back from attacking Rhys was the eye of Anubis.”

“So that’s four destroyed, five if we count the one I go and deal with later.”

“We have one contained here in the secure archive, and one stored safely at Torchwood house. That leaves the eye of Tefnut, but that one produces water so I don’t think that one’s looking for Andy. It was also considered lost after the ship fire. The eye of Osiris is currently held by Osiris, the organisation, along with the eye of Ma’at.”

“What do those do?”

“The eye of Osiris can temporarily raise the dead and, from what I’ve read, the eye of Ma’at causes agony to those who lie within its radius of effect. About ten feet.”

“I can see that one becoming an issue.” 

“Other than those the only ones left are the eyes of Thoth and Bennu. The eye of Thoth was reported destroyed but the details are iffy. It’s possible that it was sold on. The one I think is after Andy is the eye of Bennu, which is known to produce fire. It’s similar in its description to a phoenix and its egg.”

“That makes life a lot easier. Any idea where and when it was last seen?” 

“Would I have called you over if I didn’t?”

He chuckled. 

“It should be arriving in Cardiff tomorrow morning?”

“Please tell me you didn’t find it on Ebay.” 

“I didn’t… Owen did.”

Jack facepalmed internally. “Did he get it?”

“Sadly, no, but I do have the address it will be arriving at. It should be there any time between ten and twelve.”

“And we’ll be waiting. Where is your boyfriend anyway?”

She giggled lightly, not used to anyone actually calling him her boyfriend. “Down in the medical bay with a cold pack on his face.”

“So, that’s why the lights are off. Just like old times.”

“But with less alcohol or a police report to deal with.”

“Oi! I heard that!” Owen called from his hiding spot. “See if I help you lot this flu season.” 

Jack grinned. “We never said it was a bad thing and you know you care about us too much to let us get sick.”

“Sod off.” 

“See?” 

The rain eased off that night as Jack made his way towards the Osiris storage facility. He’d insisted upon going alone so everyone else could be prepared for what tomorrow could bring. That was the reason he gave anyway. Really he just didn’t want to risk them being exposed to a virus they had no way of curing. At least if he was infected he could kill it off the hard way and be back and healthy before breakfast. Ianto hated when he did that, and honestly so did Jack. He took a long breath of fresh night air and steeled himself for what was to come. The guard on patrol didn’t even know what hit him as Jack struck him in the back of the neck, knocking him out in a single blow. One down, two to go. They were standing either side of the partially rusted metal door and didn’t look like they planned to move any time soon. He took a gas mask from his belt and slipped it on before activating a small canister and tossing it towards the door. A clear gas rose into the air and the two guards only took seconds to collapse, overwhelmed by the aerosolised sedatives effects. 

The door creaked as Jack pulled it open, stepping into the makeshift laboratory that hopefully still held the eye he was looking for. One of Toshikos little inventions made short work of the alarm and security locking system, allowing him to walk through unhindered. It looked like most of the equipment had been cleared from the place, but one area remained untouched. In the centre sat a metal orb, or that’s how it looked at first glance, as he saw the surface move. It was almost like liquid but he knew better. It was made up of billions of microscopic robots, just waiting to do their worst to whatever poor organic creature came into contact with them. A group of rats lay dead on the floor, their bodies completely converted into cold metal. It reminded him too much of the cybermen. He carefully placed six thermite explosives around the base of the eye with gloved hands and stepped back, tossing the gloves and the boot covers he was wearing into the room with them. He wasn’t going to take a single particle of that thing back with him. Once he was outside he hit the detonator and heard the telltale hiss of the devices going off. Even though you couldn’t tell anything was going on just by looking at the outside of the building, you could feel the intense heat swallowing up the area. He took one look back before returning to the SUV and the roof of the old hanger had melted inward, pulling the rest down with it. He tapped his earpiece.

“Ianto? Are you still awake?” 

“Hmm?” The welshman mumbled, having obviously dropped off. “Yea… Yes, I’m awake. How did it go?”

“All a molten pile of scrap. How’s our guest?”

“He fell asleep two hours ago.”

“I’ve been out that long?”

“Yes. Are you heading back, or is there anywhere else you need to go?”

“Why? Miss me?” He smirked, pulling onto the road. 

He yawned. “It’s surprisingly cold down here without you.”

“I’ll have to come and warm you up then.” 

Andy rolled over in bed, unable to cool off. The moment he managed to drift off to sleep he found himself surrounded by the dim glow of a low level fire. The walls glowed like dying embers as he climbed out of bed, wrapping his sleeve around his hand to hold the door handle in the hope that he could escape. Flames rose in a wall just beyond the door and over the roar of the fire he could hear a conversation. One voice sounded like a deep growl, each plosive accentuated with a snapping sound. The other was more like the scratch of a fountain pen on paper that somehow formed words. 

“Why?! You would throw our lives to the wind for what? Are you so bitter that you would not be freed?” The growling voice boomed. 

The other voice was calm, almost sounding uninterested. “One must consider themselves captive to be freed. I do not consider myself anything but free.”

“So you’re content to live as a stone?”

“I do not live as a stone as I have not given any human a reason to keep me entrapped within one.”

“I swear, after I claim my vessel I will hunt you down.”

“You sound so sure that you will claim a vessel at all. As far as I see it you will fail as the rest have.”

“There is no stopping a force of nature.”

“There are many that would disagree. Beware burning yourself beyond your limit. Water may enrage an oil fire, but the very sands themselves will remain unperturbed.” 

“Why must you always speak in riddles?”

“Let me put it simply for you then. The more you fight, the more likely you are to end up destroyed by the very thing you seek.”

The flames began to die away, revealing the shapes of the beings that had been arguing. Both were humanoid but had the heads of birds. One had the head of a hawk with blazing white eyes and the other the head of an ibis. The hawk faded from view along with the flames. 

“So temperamental. If he’d stayed he may have seen what he wished for was here all along. Do not fear human, I mean you no harm.” The ibis gestured for Andy to approach. 

Not knowing what else to do, he did as he was asked. “What are you?”

“I am but a simple bird with a passion for the written word. You are a man of law, are you not?”

“I’m a police officer, yes.”

“Then we are not so different. Beings of logic and truth… Hmm… There is something I should not tell, but I am compelled to do so.” 

“About what? I mean this is all very weird.” 

What could have been a chuckle came from the bird mans beak. “Indeed. This dreamscape can be quite disorientating. Now, remember this Andrew Davison, there are far more than twelve eyes but most have been lost to the four winds, others have changed form and the young lady who gave warning of our arrival has met more than one without even realising it. Fare well enforcer of mans laws, may your life be long and heart be light. We shall not meet again.” 

He was about to ask another question when he felt the floor give way. He awoke with a jolt as if he’d been dropped onto the bed from a decent height. The bird mans words echoed through his mind as he sat up and tried to get his bearings. The heat of the night before was gone without a trace. 


	8. Hypnagogic jerk

Melody knocked softly on the recovery room at around nine in the morning. Andy had been awake for a while, showered and got changed before trying to settle his mind from the night before. 

“Come in.” He called, putting down a small notebook. 

She opened the door, pushing the handle down with her elbow as her hands were occupied by a tray. “Morning.”

“Breakfast in bed? Can I stay here?” He smiled. 

She placed the tray in front of him. “I thought you could do with something to eat. Did you sleep ok?”

“Other than some strange dreams about bird people, yea.” He took a slice of toast and bit into it. 

“Well, good news is the object should be contained before lunch time and you’ll be able to get back to normal.”

“Thanks… So… What are Torchwoods hiring policies?”

“Hmm? I’m not sure to be honest. I think it’s just a matter of what’s needed and Jacks discretion. Why?”

He shrugged. “I was thinking I could maybe help?”

“Andy…” She perched on the end of the bed. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Why? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no of course not. It’s not that I think you couldn’t help. I just think you can help more by working where you are. I mean if you hadn’t tipped us off about the parasite case or those poor kids in the hospital so many more people could have died. Gwen can only get so much from the police because they don’t see her as one of them anymore. But you’re on the inside. You can still ask if you want to. Heck, I’m just an assistant so it’s not like I have any authority.”

He placed down his toast. “But you’ve got psychic powers. You can’t be just an assistant.”

“Yep. My abilities are just a skill. They don’t give me any sway around here and frankly that’s a good thing. I like doing the day to day stuff that Ianto hasn’t got time for while he does more important work. I try and make everyones lives easier while they’re off saving the world.”

“You sound like their mum.”

She laughed warmly. “I suppose so. I do try and get everyone to eat better, not that it’s working. And I might not be a certified councillor but I try and make sure everyone knows I’m happy to listen if there’s anything they need to talk out.”

“Why not try and be promoted then?”

“One, everyone else is ten times smarter than me, and two, I’d never pass the physical. I can barely run without ending up gasping for air. Old injury.”

“Gwen said you were only twentyone. I don’t mean to pry but-”

“Incident with an alien as a kid. Lost half a lung and scarred up the rest.”

“Bloody hell. I’m sorry.”

“I can manage it. I nearly got a transplant once, but my sisters had a fight with another kid at school so my parents were stuck there when the hospital called. By the time they got home we’d missed out and it went to someone else. Sorry, I shouldn’t be spouting off my problems.”

“Sounds like you haven’t told anyone that in a long time. I’ve got nowhere to be so come on, I can be a good listener too.” He smiled softly. “Are you still on the list?”

“No. I asked to be taken off it when I was sixteen. I was a less urgent case and I thought it might help someone else get closer to having a normal life. My life was never going to be normal… It’s funny, Owen side eyes me every time I have the slightest cough, but he can’t very well at the moment because of the black eye. It’s like, doctor, you are not being stealthy there.”

“What’s up with him anyway? He’s always so…”

“Bristly?”

“Yea.”

“That’s just his way. He’s a soft heart really. Temperamental and a bit mouthy, but a sweetheart. Don’t tell him I said that.” 

“It’s nice to hear. Whenever we usually hear Torchwood’s on their way we get a bit nervous. You’ve all got that aura, you know? Especially Jack. I just can’t work him out.”

“Yea?”

“Yea. Some stories he’s all smiles and jokes, flirting with everyone, then he’s cold and all business… Then there’s this look he gets in his eyes. It’s terrifying.” 

“Jack’s… Complicated. He’s seen a lot over his time, more than most people can even imagine. But he’s a good person, even if sometimes he has to do bad things to save the world.”

“Batman.” Andy chuckled. “That’s what he reminds me of.”

“Well, he has been known to brood on top of buildings and punch bad guys.” 

Jack sighed. “Why did I expect the post to be on time?” 

“Because, it turns out, we’re at a very early point on the route.” Tosh replied, watching a small red dot move across the map on her screen. 

“So, have you got around to digging up anything new on Mels love interest?”

“Between being immersed in the daily goings on at Osiris I’ve had a quick look.”

“And…?”

“Nothing interesting. She has a lot of interests in common with Melody, has a facebook profile she barely uses, no secret accounts or suspicious purchases. She doesn’t even illegally download music.”

“That’s what I was worried about.”

She blinked, trying to work out what he meant. “Did I miss something?”

“She’s too normal. Too safe. It’s like it’s all been set up to look as inoffensive and inconspicuous as possible.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid? You were never like this with the rest of us.”

That was debatable, but he wasn’t going to just admit that he’d run background checks on anyone his staff were dating. The last time he backed off Tosh ended up with Mary and he wasn’t going to let anything like that happen again.

“She’s lonely. Just let her be close to someone, even if it’s just for a little while. They’re just dating. It’s not as if they’re moving in together or getting married.”

“I just don’t want to break her heart if, or when, this Heather woman turns out to be a spy from Osiris or something.” 

“If anyone’s going to find out something like that, it’s her.”

“She’s too trusting… But if you really didn’t find anything then I’ll back off… For now.” 

“Right, the post van’s just parked up around the corner.” 

“Time to intercept a delivery then.” He hopped out of the SUV and closed the door behind him. Striding up the road he caught the postman, just out of sight of the house. “Hi, sorry, in a bit of a rush and I think you have a parcel for me? Number forty two?”

The postman looked a little flustered. “Oh, um… Do you have any ID? I can’t just hand parcels out on word alone you see.”

“Sure.” Jack pulled a fake ID from his pocket using the homeowners name and held it out with a smile. 

He checked the ID not seeing anything suspicious about it. It had the right address and name, and the photo was definitely the man in front of him. Satisfied, he grabbed a medium sized box from the back of the van and handed it over. “There you go.”

“Thanks. Got to go.” The captain beamed before rushing off with the strangely warm box tucked under his arm. 

Ianto handed Andy his, now dry and fully functional, keys having been rescued from the fishers treasure stash.

“Thanks. They’re clever little thieves. I didn’t even feel them take the keys out of my pocket.” Andy dropped the keys into the inside pocket of his jacket, not wanting to lose them again.

“Be glad it wasn’t your phone or wallet. Oh, and I need to find Melody, I found two of her lost earrings hidden under a stack of glass beads.” 

“I think she said she was heading up to the office.”

He gave a polite nod and headed off to find his assistant. 

Gwen waved Andy over. “How did you sleep?”

“I had a strange dream about talking bird people and the room being on fire, but other than that.”

“Bird people?”

“Yea, one was a hawk and the other was one of those birds with the long beak that droops down at the end.”

“A flamingo?”

“No, no. It had black feathers and its beak is really skinny.”

“An ibis.” Owen said, not looking away from his computer. He looked like he was working but the ebay page on his screen said otherwise. 

“Yes. That’s the one. It said something about humans not locking it up because it was nice? And something about there being more than twelve eyes.” He tried to remember the details that were starting to fade as dreams often did. 

Gwens expression went from amusement to concern. “Twelve eyes.”

“Mm. He said he lost most of them, but some of them changed into something else. And… The woman who had the visions had met more than one.”

“Did you write all the details down when you woke up?”

“Yea. It doesn’t make any more sense in written form though.”

“No, the wording’s really important.”

“It was just a dream.”

“Those dreams are what happens just before the thing that’s trying to hijack your body turns up. Come on.” She led him back down to his temporary accommodation. The notebook sat on the bedside table and she quickly flicked through the small pages. Andys writing was round and devoid of the sharp flicks that made up hers, but he always wrote his words so close together. That wasn’t to say she couldn’t read it. She’d written whole reports using his notes before. 

Jack strode into the hub, followed by Tosh, the box held under his arm. It had gotten even warmer as they’d travelled and he could feel the heat of it, even through the fabric of his coat. 

Owen looked over from his desk. “Make sure to double check the box. You never know if they’ve been scammed into buying a brick.” 

“Trust me, this is the real deal.” He held up the box as the cardboard began to blacken and smoke. He dropped it into the tide pool just before it burst into flames, the water bubbling around it as the ashen sphere unveiled itself. It rolled in the water, steam rising around the impossible flames that grew in a flash, rising high into the air. Jack fired three rounds into the eye but it showed no sign of damage. Tosh and Owen both held it back with the spray of two fire extinguishers, unsure of their next move as the eye should have shattered just like the others had. At least the extinguishers seemed to hurt it. They needed to treat it more like an oil fire and suffocate it. 

Jack tapped his earpiece. “Ianto, how much sand do we have?”

“Sand? We have a few bags left from the fishers pen.” The welshman replied in confusion. 

“We need it all, here, now. Got a fire we need to put out.”

“On my way.” It was only by chance that Ianto had headed back down towards the archives when he had so he didn’t have to sprint through the main area just to get to storage. 

Gwen met him half way. “Is it here?”

“Yes. I’m going to get as much sand as I can carry.”

“Then I’m with you.”

“And so am I.” Andy insisted.

Gwen spun around to face him. “You are bloody well not! You’re going to stay here where it’s safe.”

“And let you all possibly get hurt, no. No way.”

“For christs sake Andy! If that thing gets hold of you we won’t be the only ones dead.”

“I can’t just wait here!”

Ianto clenched his fist. “Save it for later!” He barged past and started pulling the large bags of sand from the storage cupboard. Gwen grabbed one, Andy grabbed another and Ianto heaved the last two up onto his shoulder. He didn’t have time to wait. They made their way up to the walkway where they could see the creature pushing back against the swiftly emptying fire extinguishers. He rested them on the guardrail and took a box cutter from his pocket, slicing both bags so the contents would pour down onto the fire. The alien shrieked, a loud hissing coming from wherever the sand fell. Gwen handed off the next bag, watching the flames dull. Still it fought until Andy tore open the final bag and tipped it, putting out the final embers.

With the piles of sand cleaned away and the eye safely contained, fully labelled to be placed into the secure archive asap, Gwen had finally finished lecturing Andy, who looked like he didn’t regret a thing.

Owen wandered past. “Plod might be a moron but you would have done exactly the same thing.”

“I would not and you’re not helping.”

“Not trying to help. Anyway, you’re wasting your breath. You know what happens now.”

“I...Oh.” Her face fell as Owen handed her a single pill, still in its blister pack. “Of course.”

“If you want to argue it then Harkness is waiting in the meeting room.” 

“He knew I wouldn’t like this.”

He nodded and walked off, knowing he had little to no say in the matter. 

Andy looked between them. “What’s happening now? What’s that?”

“It’s an amnesia pill.” Gwen couldn’t look him in the eye. “I give you this and it’ll be like the last twenty four hours never happened.”

“Oh…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Let me talk to him.”

“That’s not going to go well.”

“If it doesn’t then I’ll take that, no questions asked.”

“I…” She’d never seen him look so determined before and supposed it was worth a shot. “He’s not going to be easy to convince.”

“I know.” 


	9. A chance to finally sleep.

Jack had been prepared for a full on argument with Gwen, not Andy calmly walking in. 

“Here to ask for an application form?” The captain asked, having had this conversation more times than he’d like. 

Andy sat in a chair across from him. “No, actually.”

He raised an eyebrow, surprised. 

“I spoke to Melody and she made a good point. I can do a lot more as a police officer than I could if I dropped everything and tried to get hired here. All I’m going to ask is to let me remember. Let me know what to keep an eye out for.”

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “And why should I consider it? We have Gwen.”

“You do, but a lot of the lads don’t trust her. She’s Torchwood now.”

“Why would you be any different?”

“Well, they wouldn’t know for one. Plus, I’d still be working with them.” He held Jacks icy gaze, trying not to flinch. 

“You realise that remembering all of this will put a target on your back, and that doesn’t mean just to be killed. Do you think you could keep this secret under interrogation?”

“Yes.”

“Torture?”

Andy blinked but didn’t give anything away. “Yes.” 

“You really are sincere about this. Even Gwen was shaken when she saw her first weevil up close and you breezed on through. I’m going to give you one last chance to turn back and just go back to your normal, mundane, safe life. But I’m guessing you’re not going to take it.”

“No sir.”

“It’s Jack. Gwen’ll drive you home being as she’s listening at the door.” 

“R-right. Thank you.”

“Don’t make me regret this Mr Davison.”

“I won’t. I promise.” He speed walked out, kind of proud he held his nerve the whole time. Gwen opened the door and gestured that she’d just be one moment. She placed a printed report she’d thrown together onto the table in front of Jack. 

“What’s this?”

“It might be nothing but with how things have been going I don’t think it is.”

“Thanks. Take Andy home and I’ll look into this.”

Ianto slumped down into his chair up in the tourist information centre, rubbing his shoulder. He’d overdone it, like he always did, and he’d suffer for the rest of the day for it. Melody placed a bottle of water and two ibuprofen in front of him. He swallowed them down.

“Thanks. Remind me not to do any heavy lifting for a few days, and order some more sand.”

“I’ll try.” She chuckled. “Will some gossip make you feel a bit better?”

“It could be a start.” 

She pulled over her own chair and sat. “Heather came to see me last night.”

“Oh?”

“Yea. She had the day off and her mum didn’t need the car so she drove all the way here.”

“Are you two getting serious? Last I heard you weren’t sure.”

“I’m still not completely sure, but hopefully I will be by tonight. I’m going to see how she reacts when I tell her about my telepathy.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Well, if we do stay together she’s going to have to know, and if she reacts badly then at least it won’t hurt as badly as it would a few months down the line.” 

“I hope it goes well.”

“Me too.”

“You can call me if things go wrong and I’ll come round.” 

“Thanks.” She smiled. “I think it’ll be ok. Her thoughts have been positive up until now and she’s pretty open minded… That wasn’t meant to be a pun.”

Her slightly awkward manner always cheered him up. “Then I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s better to be honest with what you can.” 

“True… My mum says she wants to have a little family reunion next month and I’m not looking forward to it.”

“Sounds fun.” He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “No way of getting out of it?”

“Nope. Delilah’s just transferred to a branch in Cardiff, because fate hates me, and her maternity leave just ended. She’s just as ecstatic about the news as I am.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s an estate agent. I looked up the branch and it’s the other side of the city so fingers crossed we won’t run into each other.”

“If this reunion thing’s in the daytime I could call you in for a work emergency. Photocopier exploded. Computer system’s just playing crazy frog on loop. Just got three boxes of misprinted leaflets that need to be disposed of and I need a hand throwing them into the bay.” 

She stifled her laughter, honestly feeling a little better about the whole thing. “Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.”

Owen scooted over next to Tosh on his office chair, noting the smug look on her face. “Making trouble?”

“Quite a bit actually. Osiris have outposts all around the country and I’ve been isolating each of the smaller ones computer networks, then taking everything useful from them and wiping them.”

“You’re having fun with this.”

“As they aren’t a legitimate organisation I don’t have to hold back or play nice. They still don’t know it’s us and it’s got them very flustered.”

“They’re punching above their weight with you. Fancy going out tonight?”

“Always, but will you be ok? You’re still looking rather… um…”

“Like I lost a fight with a truck?”

“A little.”

“I don’t care, if you don’t.” He shrugged.

She pushed her keyboard back and took off her glasses. “As long as I’m with you I don’t mind at all.” 

Melody hung up her coat as she got home, her umbrella lent on the wall next to it, both dripping onto an old towel. 

“Welcome home.” Heather smiled warmly. 

“I hope it wasn’t too boring here all day.”

“Naa. I just napped most of the day.”

“Didn’t you sleep last night? I know my bed’s kind of small.”

“I slept just fine. I’m just a pro at being lazy when I get the chance. Still up for going stargazing tonight?”

She nodded and sat on the sofa. “Um… I need to tell you something.”

“What’s wrong?” Heather sat next to her. “Are you ok?”

“Yea. I’m fine I just… There’s something about me you need to know but I don’t think you’ll believe me.”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually a secret agent.” She chuckled. 

“Heather…”

“Ok, ok. I’m listening.”

“I’m a telepath. I can read minds and it’s why I can’t look anyone in the eyes.” She waited for the laughter, but it never came. “I know it sounds ridiculous.”

“So… You can hear what I’m thinking.”

“I try not to but I understand if you feel it’s too invasive. You’re still not sure if you believe me.”

Heather shrugged. “I don’t really know what to think. Do other people know?”

“Yea. My parents, sisters, Nathan and Mark know about it. Choose a number between one and a million including decimal places.”

“Um… Okay.” She closed her eyes and thought.

“Twenty six thousand four hundred and ninety four point three five two.”

Her eyes shot open and she stared at Melody. “Holy crap… You aren’t joking. How?”

“I was just born this way I suppose. It’s not as great as it sounds. I can’t go out in large crowds without being overwhelmed, can’t look anyone in the eye even when they’re trying to check me for a concussion.”

“So is it just reading thoughts?”

“I can search through memories too. And I can manipulate certain things but I don’t like doing that unless I’ve been asked to.”

She let the whole idea settle in her mind before speaking again. “I guess stargazing is the perfect date then. No one around. Just us and the nights sky… And whatever food you want.”

“You’re taking this really well.”

“I believe in ghosts and aliens too to an extent so the idea of someone being able to read other peoples thoughts isn’t so much of a stretch. Plus my mum’s really superstitious so I grew up thinking that priests could just do that by default.”

“Really?”

“I wish I was joking. Learning they couldn’t made being dragged to church a lot less stressful.”

Melody sunk back into the cushions. “I’ve been so worried about you thinking I was delusional I didn’t actually think about what I’d do if you were ok with it.” 

“You worry too much.” She leaned back on the sofa and patted her lap, letting Mel lay her head on her legs. “How about I order dinner and we just chill out tonight?”

“Sounds good. Sorry for spoiling your plans.”

“The stars will be there whenever we want to look at them. Plus, it’s still tipping it down. We can reschedule for a clearer night. I just want to spend time with you.”

“I can try and play you that song later. I’ve been able to make up for the weakness in my fingers so I think I can get through it without any flat notes.”

“I’m sure it’ll sound great.”

She reached just under the hem of Heathers shirt and traced the outline of the tattoo that was expertly etched into the skin just above her hip. A blue lotus encircled by two intertwined snakes. “Who designed this?”

“My brother. He said he got the idea from an Egyptian mural. Like the ones on the walls of temples. I thought it was beautiful so I took the page from his notebook.”

“Is he an artist?”

“Not a professional or anything. He just doodles while he’s writing because it helps him concentrate. He was so pissed off when he found out I’d taken one of his pages. He got over it eventually.” 

“Must be nice… Having a sibling you get along with.”

“We don’t really get along but he doesn’t hate me. Maybe you could talk your sisters round.”

“And pigs might fly.”

  
  



End file.
